Ohio to get cut of settlement over organ-transplant drug

Ohio will receive $2.5 million as part of a settlement with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals over the illegal marketing of an organ-transplant drug.

The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio will receive $2.5 million as part of a settlement with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals over the illegal marketing of an organ-transplant drug.

The settlement is part of a larger amount - $491 million - that Wyeth, a subsidiary of Pfizer since 2009, has agreed to pay the federal government, all 50 states and Washington, D.C., to resolve civil and criminal allegations over the sale and use of the drug Rapamune.

In 1999, Wyeth received approval to use Rapamune in kidney-transplant patients to prevent the body from rejecting the organ.

Investigators found that Wyeth trained sales representatives to market the drug for other uses, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement.